Immigration Driving Growth According to Statistics Canada

Statistics Canada has released a new report showing that immigration to Canada is driving growth in Canada's population, especially in the western provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. The news release suggests that the population increase of 0.19 percent, the fastest fourth-quarter growth since 1992, can be traced to international immigration. This brings Canada's opulation to 33,504,700, an increase of 63,400 since October 1st of 2008.

Canada's western provinces experienced population growth above the national average, with Alberta demonstrating the largest increase at 0.6 percent. Ontario and New Brunswick, conversely, experienced growth below national levels, at 0.08 and 0.07 percent respectively. The province of Quebec demonstrated the most significant increase in births, with a 3.9 percent rise.

Economists frequently point to population growth as a significant component of the economic growth of Canada. Some economists have suggested that the ideal level of growth is presently one percent of the population annually.